The one with the Pumpkin Patch

My baby is growing... officially on the scale and as a matter of fact. He's a month old now. I'm not sure where that time went. He's weighing 9lb 10 oz and is coming in at 22 inches. He's finally grown out of newborn clothes - and to think I kept thinking I was just shrinking them. He's a completely different baby than Eleanor, a bit more laid back. He takes his time with his bottles and doesn't stretch like she did... plus he does this little giggle sound that makes me chuckle. With the conference over and just going through some debriefings, I'm able to finally settle into my maternity leave.

We celebrated my birthday this week. Grady and I were up with Matt and Eleanor the morning of so they were able to give me my gift and a beautiful set of colored daisies. My second gift came that night, Mom dropped off a peach cobbler for me! It was still warm even! Talk about being special! Matt had asked where I wanted to eat the night of my birthday and instead of going out, I asked that we go as a family to Papa's Pumpkin Patch! Matt had never been and I haven't been for years. It was a great time. The best part was the city hosted us as a perk for their employees and Mom gave us a GRE coupon too. Eleanor played on the wooden train, went down the slide, played in the corn crib, wandered around the pumpkins, and explored. We tried to get her to ride the little train but she was not having it, maybe next year.

Everyone got to pick out a pumpkin...size appropriate that is. Mine could have been a little bigger, but Eleanor couldn't decide which one she wanted so we made it easier for her! I also picked out some squash that I'm going to try to cook up later. It was a fun night out and couldn't believe how late it had gotten when we left.

Other big happenings this week has been the end of the garden. The weather has turned a bit and we are in full swing fall. That means the plants are about done and the pots need to go away and the harvest happens a little bit more. This always makes me a little sad but this year was different for me because of the little red head that helped with the harvest. There she was, carrying the ice cream bucket for me and pulling on red, and sometimes green tomatoes, and dropping them in the bucket. She'd then pick up the bucket and move to the next plant with me. I will also miss her going after the cherry tomatoes on their plants so she could pop them in her mouth and end up with seeds all over her face and shirt. I'm pretty sure she ate 90% of our garden peas with 5% going to Matt and I and the remaining percentage dropping onto the ground out of her fingers. I'm already looking forward to having a garden with her next year. She was pretty excited to do a harvest at Grandma's house too... Grandma even gave her cucumbers to add to her bucket. While we played in the garden, Matt hauled silage with Dad.

Best meal: Matt made tuna steaks, I made butter noodles, we added green beans and glasses of wine... it's like we are adults again. The angry redhead had mashed up broccoli and chicken strips.

MJR in nice tone: Eleanor, come out of there.
10 minutes later, MJR tone becoming sterner: Hey, come out of there.
10 minutes later, MJR enter dadtone mode: No!
5 mmutes later, MJR: I said no! Ahhh, you stink. Your brother stinks.
ALR to herself: This is what our lives have become.